But, Donley notes, the number of very young prisoners is also increasing. The best available statistics indicate that 95,000 juveniles have been sentenced to adult prisons. This figure does not include young offenders who are incarcerated in juvenile facilities. The increase in the younger prison population is probably the result of minimum sentencing laws for crimes committed with a firearm.

And incarceration is not inexpensive. Donley reports that it costs about $30,000 per year for each inmate in prison. And that is an average figure. For some jurisdictions, the cost per inmate per year is much higher. These programs are not merely expensive in tax dollars, they are expensive in human terms, falling hardest on minority neighborhoods.